Up in the Air
by keepupbabe
Summary: Coda to 401 - Steve is afraid he's not going to save everyone. Danny realizes that he's long overdue to let Chin know how he feels about him. Chin wants to shoot everyone. And in the end, it's all okay.


Steve knows Danny is the worrier of the group, knows that he takes everything in, and mulls it over and over until his gut hurts; until the lines of his eyes are pinched and tight with stress. He knows this and he tries to hide the phone from Danny when silence comes across the line, Chin's voice cut off suddenly.

"What's wrong, what happened?" Danny's tone is scared as he stares at Steve, but Steve knows he'd never admit that later.

"No service. I don't know what's wrong." Steve shoves his phone back in his pocket. There's nothing he can do right now, and he knows Chin can take care of himself. He knows Danny knows that too.

"C'mon, we gotta get this guy out of here."

"What about Chin, Steve?" There's a hard edge to Danny's voice now.

Steve looks at him, sees the stain of worry bleeding across Danny's blue eyes. He turns away quickly, looping an arm around Cosi and hauling him up, motioning for Danny to do the same.

Danny reacts fast. He's well versed in following Steve's leads by now, but it's obvious he's still waiting for some kind of response. Steve tries to push away the fear that he won't be able to get Danny to Chin before one or both of them is hurt; a thought that swims through his mind more often lately about everyone in his life.

"We'll go get him, but you know he can take care of himself for a while. We've got to deal with this first."

Steve can hear the wheels turning in Danny's head. He'll be treated to a patented Williams rant later, but it can't be helped as they shuffle Cosi out of the room and into the dark hallway.

There's not much noise out here now, but Steve can hear muffled shouting and terrified screams from above their location. Steeling his resolve, he tightens his grip and points in the opposite direction, farther into the dark basement.

It's a matter of a few minutes, dragging Cosi bodily out of the small interrogation room. They head down several damp hallways before they get to the supply closet Steve knows should buy them a little more time.

"Okay, Danny, I'm fairly certain someone is coming to try and get Cosi." Steve glances around the room at the shelves of supplies, knowing there must be medical equipment somewhere. "I'm going to stay here and make sure he doesn't bleed out all over the floor.

"I know you're worried about Chin, but focus on this right now. I want you to go around the basement, check the exits. See if there's any way out of here. Can you do that?"

Danny nods quickly, reaching a hand down to pull his gun out of his holster. "Yeah. I'll be back."

Steve watches him leave the room, listening to the quiet click of his loafers across the cement for a few seconds, before turning back to his own task. He can feel Ricardo's pulse going slow and thready under his fingertips.

* * *

As much as Danny tries to push down his worry, none of it helps. Hot spikes of fear pierce his midriff as he creeps along the basement towards one of the two exits out of the building. His fingers are trembling around the grip he has on his gun and he stops for a second, pressing his back flat to the wall.

_Get a grip on yourself, Williams. You're no use to anyone if you get yourself shot down here. Chin will be fine. Everything will be fine._

He says the last part out loud, eyes squeezing shut tight. He repeats it in his head again as his eyes drift back open, hearing footsteps down the hall.

It doesn't take long for him to figure out both exits out of the basement are useless – each door has a small rectangular box attached at the center, a blinking red button flashing methodically.

Danny refuses to even touch it, not after the seminar Steve gave a few months ago on how to recognize bomb mechanics.

A few minutes later, Danny is back at the supply closet, his fast clip aided by how on edge he is now. His skin feels tight and hot as he shoves his gun back in his holster before pushing the door open slowly.

To find Steve pointing his gun directly at him.

"Whoa, whoa, you gonna shoot me? Put your gun away, you animal." Steve glares at him as he holsters his own weapon.

"I considered it."

Danny feels his eyes rolling. "Do me a favor then, put me out of my misery? I feel like I'm about to crawl out of my skin over here."

Steve's eyes get pinched around the edge at this, but then his concentration is back a second later. "Did you check all the exits?"

"No, I went to get doughnuts. Yeah, of course I checked them, they're wired with explosives. Very much not cop-friendly explosives. It's not an option." Danny glances around Steve's shoulder as Cosi lets out an anguished breath and then goes limp.

"Uhh, Steve?" he asks, causing Steve to look down.

"Yes, thank you, I see that." A second later, Steve is straddling the prone man, roughly compressing his chest to try to get him breathing again.

Danny winces unconsciously. He knows how much muscle Steve has and if Cosi makes it through this, he's probably going to have a few broken ribs, courtesy of the Hawaiian government. Danny can't bring himself to care that much at the moment.

"Hey, buddy, you know if we lose this guy, we've got no leverage, right?" Danny asks, watching Steve work. He's speaking out of his ass; of course Steve knows this, but Danny can't seem to get his mouth to stop working right now.

"You're not helping, Danny!" Steve throws over his shoulder, glaring before turning back to the task at hand.

Danny frowns, glancing down at his feet. He shuffles around for a second, before turning to the shelving unit next to him. He grips the metal column, his fingers pulsing around the cool surface. He's speaking before he can stop his mouth moving.

"We'll talk about it later."

Steve turns back to him as he keeps working, the pumping of his hands loud in Danny's ears. "What did you say?"

"Now's not really the time," Danny tries, loosening his grip on the column. He feels like his heart is going to bounce out of his chest if he doesn't keep talking. He makes up his mind, kneeling down next to Steve on one knee as he pushes his sleeves up to his elbows.

"I was talking to Chin earlier – he's been staying at my place more often now, you know?" Danny can hear himself building up a head of steam, the bubble of anxiety building in his chest. He knows he couldn't have picked a worse time to do this if he tried, but he had to get it out inow/i.

"He's got his own drawer in the bedroom and cooking equipment in the kitchen and hair products in the bathroom and everything." Danny's hand waves around, as if it'll help Steve see what he's talking about better.

"And I'm happy, you know? I want Chin there. And I've forgotten what it's like to be happy. I forgot what that means, with everything going on." Danny stops for a split second before plowing on ahead.

"For a second there, I forgot about Kono leaving and all this other shit going on because he makes me happy."

Steve stares at Danny even as he continues to work at Cosi's chest, timing his pushes quickly and efficiently, nodding at Danny to keep on going.

"Then this morning, we're sitting in the living room." Danny tries to stop the hard waver in his voice as the scene plays over again in his head. "I told him I wanted to talk, and then the phone rang, and it was you asking us to come down here. So I told him, 'We'll talk about it later.'"

"Instead of what?" Steve's pointedly not looking at Danny now, staring down at Cosi instead.

"I don't know. I figure I could have said something better, anything really." Danny shuffles around on his knees a bit, a sick feeling erupting in his belly. Why did he even say anything? He thought telling Steve this would make him feel better, but he just wants to go puke now.

Cosi coughs under Steve then, sucking in a huge lungful of air.

"Okay, let's hear it for the Boy Scouts of America! Nice work, babe." Danny pats Steve on the shoulder, before rocking back on his heels.

"Were you going to tell him you love him, or something?" Steve asks, wiping a forearm across his brow, managing to smear some blood across his face.

"I don't know, I mean...maybe? I'm just kind of waiting for the shoe to drop, you know. I'm waiting for Chin to realize that I'm not worth it, that all the drama with Rachel and Grace isn't worth it." The twisted knot in Danny's stomach tightens. iWhat if Chin really doesn't want to deal with me?/i

Steve chuckles, which causes Danny to glare at him.

"Listen, Danno, I've seen the way Chin looks at you. You two have been dating for, what, a year now? He's in it for the long haul and I'm not just saying that to make you feel better." Steve stops for a second, as if he's measuring what he wants to say next.

"I know Chin Ho Kelly and I know if you love him, you need to be sure before you say it." Steve finishes, reaching out to shake Danny's shoulder lightly.

Danny feels a small bubble burst somewhere in his throat at Steve's words. He knows then that Steve has watched the two of them together over the last year, has seen things he hasn't noticed. He just nods instead, humming as Steve continues to speak.

"You gotta be sure, because once you say that, you can't unsay it. But I think you know Chin's worth it and I know he thinks the same about you. It's a serious thing. You're definitely a catch, Danny."

Danny can tell there's something else there that Steve's not saying, but he doesn't push it.

"Oh, are you speaking from experience? Because I personally don't think it counts when you say it to a pistol." Danny knows he's being a jerk, but he can't help it.

"You know what, you're an asshole. But we gotta move; I just heard something. C'mon."

It's a work of a few minutes to get Cosi moved to a new location. Danny tries to block out most of it, even as he watches as Steve shoots one of the terrorists through Cosi's shoulder. Danny picks up the short wave radio that was attached to the terrorist's hip, listening to the female voice across the line.

"I don't understand Spanish, but I'm pretty sure there'll be more of them down here in a minute," Danny says as he looks up at Steve, who is busy getting his arm back around Cosi, moving him towards the exit.

Suddenly there's a male voice over the radio, telling them if they don't get upstairs in thirty seconds, he'll begin shooting hostages. Danny's gut wrenches at this and he scurries over to help Steve move Cosi along faster.

"Steve, Chin's up there too."

They both begin dragging Cosi along the hallway to the service elevator towards the rear exit. "We don't know if they've got him. Just stay focused, Danny."

As the elevator opens to let them in, Danny doesn't point out that they don't know where Chin is at all. Danny shakes his head, quickly pushes away the mental image of Chin, bleeding out in the bull pen from a stomach wound or worse.

* * *

Chin can hear everything from his vantage point crouched at the top of the foyer stairs. A blossom of hope blooms in his chest when he hears the lead terrorist calling out to Five-0 on the radio, but it's fueled by the rage at not being able to see anything.

If the terrorist is speaking to Steve and Danny, then that means they're still alive - at least for a little while longer.

Chin moves forward a few more steps, not close enough that he can be seen, but enough that he can see a little more of what's going on downstairs while still keeping a firm grip on his service pistol.

He feels his heart leap when the elevator downstairs pings and he can hear the grate open, before there's the unmistakable sound of something being dragged across the tiles. He waits with bated breath before Danny and Steve come into view, Cosi between them.

"On your knees!" Chin hears the terrorist yell. He feels his throat click as he swallows, suppressing a shiver as he watches the muzzle of the pistol bump gently against the back of Steve's head.

"I know there are more than two of you." Chin's blood runs cold at those words and he presses his forehead lightly into the railing, trying to figure out what he can do in his position.

"That's a really bad idea," Danny says.

It takes every ounce of power Chin possesses to not run down the stairs and take all of them out, as he watches gun that was pointed at Steve now being pressed tight into the back of Danny's neck.

"Are you offering to go first?" the terrorist asks. If Chin's heart wasn't pounding before, it is now. He can feel cold sweat rolling down his back as the gun digs into the skin at Danny's throat.

"Chin! It's all over, get down here." Chin can barely hear Steve over the rush of blood in his ears, but he slowly pulls himself to his feet. He pushes his gun back into his holster and holds his hands up high, walking down the steps.

All the guns in the room are pointed at him now, but Chin can't bring himself to care, as long as they're no longer pointed at Danny or Steve. After one of the other terrorists liberates his gun from his holster, he nudges Chin towards the others.

Chin should be mad, but right now all he feels his an overwhelming sense of relief at seeing Danny's okay, that he's intact and doesn't look to be hurt at all. He really wants to touch him, to reassure himself that way, but he's scared what will happen if the terrorists see.

As he kneels, Chin hears Danny's slightly rushed breathing next to him. When his knees hit the cold floor, his elbow bumps into the flesh of Danny's forearms, and he watches goose bumps erupt over Danny's arms at the contact.

All he wants to do is curl his fingers around Danny's shoulder and tell him everything's going to be alright, but he'd probably be lying through his teeth making that kind of promise. Chin's hands shake as he keeps them raised, the hot rush of adrenaline from earlier starting to drain out of him from that small touch. He shivers, before quickly suppressing that.

A few minutes later and Cosi is dead, the noise from the gunshot ringing out across the foyer, and Chin sees Danny's fingers closed over thin air, his eyes squeezing shut for a fraction of a section before he opens them again.

Then the terrorists are laying down their guns, pushing them closer to Chin and the others, raising their own hands.

"You are free to arrest us now."

A million thoughts race through Chin's mind at this. iWhat the hell is going on?/i He doesn't say anything, just pushes himself to his feet and pulls Danny up along with him, before they both rush around to grab the guns that the terrorists have dropped.

Steve is busy getting the bomb on the front door turned off, before pushing it open and ferrying the terrorists out.

"Go on and help Steve, _hoa_. I'll be out there in a minute," Chin says to Danny as they kneel down next to the woman – Linda, she told him her name was Linda - who was shot in the leg. Chin is busy tying his belt to her leg as a tourniquet to try and stem the bleeding.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I'll see you in a second." Chin looks up at Danny as he hears the stutter in his voice; a second later Danny's got his lips pressed against the side of Chin's forehead.

He's gone in a flash and Chin continues to check Linda over, before he carefully lifts her up into his arms and carries her out the large wooden doors.

After he's passed Linda off to some of the paramedics, Chin looks around the front lawn quickly. He spots Steve and Danny a second later talking to Max. He pushes through the crowd towards them and they turn around as he walks up.

They spend a few minutes discussing what exactly happened in the palace, walking along the sidewalk before stopping close to one of the SWAT trucks. Steve stops to talk to Duke, leaving Chin and Danny alone.

Suddenly Chin's engulfed in Danny's arms and he can feel the scratchy kiss of Danny's stubble on his neck as he's squeezed tight. The hard knot that's been in Chin's stomach all day unfurls as Danny's breath puffs across his skin softly before he pulls back.

"Hey, hey, I'm alright, _ipo_. I'm fine."

Danny stares at him as he speaks before he nods; his hands hover slightly at Chin's sides before he drops them down to fiddle with his badge. Chin knows if they weren't surrounded by so many people, Danny would be running his hands all over Chin to check him out on his own.

"You had something you wanted to talk about?" Chin asks, eyebrows raised as Danny continues to look at him, head slightly cocked.

Danny nods and opens his mouth, but a sound from his left causes him to look over. Steve is waving his right arm frantically, practically yelling into the phone plastered to his ear.

"Yeah, yeah, I do…but I think it's gonna have to wait. Later, yeah? I promise." Danny stares at him, as if afraid of Chin's reaction. Chin wonders if Danny thinks he's mad at him, but he just shakes his head to the question Danny's not asking.

"Hey, needs must. Go help Steve out, I'm going to try to reconstruct the drives those assholes destroyed. Be careful. Please." It's not a question.

Danny smiles sadly before leaning up to kiss Chin quickly. He doesn't wait for Chin to respond, just pushes himself away, speeding over to Steve. Chin glances over, noting how stressed Steve looks, but chalks it up to the situation as he turns to head back into the palace.

* * *

Later on after Steve's gotten a quick shower in HQ – spurred on by much ranting from Danny about how he's not going to sit in a bar for hours with a dude who has giant pit stains - the four of them are cozied up in a booth in a little dive bar down the road from the palace.

Cath's paid for the first round of Longboards, but Chin picks the tab up on the second round. Steve watches as Chin lightly pushes Cath back down in her seat when she gets up to go back to the bar, a boyish grin painted across Chin's face.

Steve gaze drifts over to see Danny smile after Chin as he walks away before Danny turns back to him.

"What?" Danny asks, flushing instantly.

"You know what, Danno. I haven't forgotten what you said earlier. You should tell him soon." Steve takes a drink before he continues. "Especially after today – it's obvious this whole thing has you shook up and I know how worried you were earlier."

Steve watches Danny's picking at the label on his beer as he talks, peeling the paper off in small strips. Cath leans over then, grasping Danny's occupied hand and shakes it slightly, giving him a warm smile.

"We all see how you feel about him, Danny. Your face is always like an open book." Danny opens his mouth to protest here, but Cath cuts him off. "He deserves to know how you really feel."

Danny eyes Cath wearily and Steve watches the two of them, knowing there's a goofy smile on his face. He's glad Cath can see all the things he sees; he wonders if she's talked about this with Danny before now.

"I know, I know. I'm just…scared."

It pains Steve how much grief he can hear in Danny's voice. Danny who is usually so loud and boisterous to the point of sometimes being annoying, reduced to the sum of his own fears.

No one says anything as Chin slides back into the booth, two beers hooked in the fingers on both hands. He settles in close to Danny's side before pushing the new beers in everyone's directions.

"What happened, did I miss something?" Chin leans against the booth cushion behind him, glancing at Danny as he speaks. Danny takes a hurried gulp, but doesn't respond.

"Nah, brah, nothing new. Just talking about today," Steve replies, leaning back into the seat. His arm is slung around Cath's shoulders and she's snuggled into his side.

The next few minutes pass quietly, the only sounds the slow sipping of beer, each of them trying to unwind.

As if jolted by an electric shock, Danny suddenly leans in close to Chin, pressing his mouth near his ear. His lips barely move, but Steve can still make out what he's saying.

"I love you, Chin Ho Kelly."

Steve watches the next few seconds pass with a light, airy feeling in his stomach as Chin pulls back to look at Danny, the biggest smile Steve's ever seen painted across his face. Danny's not immune to it any more than anyone else is and soon his whole face is lit up as Chin kisses him.

When Chin pulls back, he whispers to Danny, "I love you too."

Steve lets them have a few more moments, grinning goofily at each other, before he throws a crumpled napkin at their faces.

"Aww, you two!" he coos loudly, his smile huge and ridiculous, causing all of them to laugh.

"Fuck you, Steven!" Danny yells, throwing the napkin back, but his voice is too happy to be annoyed for more than a few seconds.

Steve settles back in the booth, pulling Cath to him and pressing his lips to her forehead as she smiles over at Chin and Danny. They're now leaning into each other's shoulders, holding their own conversation and looking better than Steve remembers seeing both of them in a long time.

And even if their merry group is missing a few important members, Steve is thankful for the little _ohana_ he's got here with him now and that they're all healthy and whole; and much happier than they were this morning. He thinks that's a job well done.


End file.
